Last July, Tortoise Media launched a six-part podcast called “Master” which detailed the accounts of multiple victims accusing author Neil Gaiman of sexual assault. This past January, New York Magazine followed up with an in-depth exposé on the allegations, including disturbing accounts from even more victims. Gaiman issued a denial of any wrongdoing, claiming he “never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone.” Nevertheless, he was hit with a rape and human trafficking lawsuit from one of his victims shortly thereafter.
A strange footnote to the extensive coverage of the allegations over the past year has been the impact it had on Hollywood, where studios had multiple adaptations of Gaiman’s works in development. Some projects were cancelled outright, while others are proceeding in truncated form. One such project is Netflix’s The Sandman, which will launch its second and final season on July 3, and the promotion has been fascinating to behold. Discussions of the show itself are taking a backseat to the “But Why?” of it all. Why release the show at all? Why perpetuate the work of this man after everything we’ve learned, and continue to put money in his pocket? And as far as approved party lines go, the explanation from co-creator David Goyer is about as good as one could expect under these circumstances. In an interview with Variety, Goyer reiterated that the decision to wrap up The Sandman in the second season was made for creative reasons long before the allegations came to light, before continuing:
“And even when the accusations first came out, I think we were three weeks from finishing filming Season 2 — so we were very, very far down the path and Neil wasn’t as involved in Season 2 as he was in Season 1. Obviously, it’s complicated. I have tremendous respect for women that come forward in those situations. It’s really concerning, but I know that Netflix, at the time, felt, ‘God, we spent two years making this thing. There’s all these actors and writers and directors involved that, if we didn’t air it, wouldn’t be fully compensated for it.’ And so we just decided, we’re going to let this work speak for itself. But I’d be crazy to say it wasn’t weird.”
This is a smart response from Goyer, and by extension Netflix, which likely vetted this approach with a fine-tooth comb. The money question goes both ways; it’s not just the studios and Gaiman who see a profit, but the artists and crew who also get compensated. Is burying the work of so many and taking money out of their pockets fair, just to take money out of his? That’s just one part of the complex calculation facing studios as they decide the fates of these adaptations.
Some studios had it easy. Disney was able to halt their adaptation of “The Graveyard Book” when it was still in development, before shooting commenced. Netflix, with a nearly-finished second season of an established series on their hands, had a tougher decision to make, but the studio hit hardest was by far Amazon, for one simple reason: Neil Gaiman was the co-showrunner on both their projects. Ultimately, Amazon decided to proceed with Good Omens, which will now wrap up with a single 90-minute episode instead of a full third season, and without Gaiman’s involvement. A trickier proposition is Anansi Boys, which finished filming a few years ago and is slated to launch sometime this year. Unlike The Sandman or Good Omens, there is no established audience waiting for resolution since it’s a debut season. The show has already suffered setbacks, as director and co-showrunner Douglas MacKinnon left the project while it was in the early days of post-production. MacKinnon was also the co-showrunner of Good Omens, which he left after season two, meaning he worked closely with Gaiman on both shows before ultimately abandoning them – and that was well before the allegations of sexual assault came out.
[Not for nothing, but I’d give anything to hear his side of the story about whatever beef went down on those sets that caused him to walk.]
For a show that’s supposed to air this year, Amazon is keeping suspiciously mum about Anansi Boys, leading many to assume a cancellation announcement is all but imminent. Certainly, that’s what Delroy Lindo seems to think. Lindo, who plays Anansi in the series, had this to say when the show came up during an interview with Entertainment Weekly back in April: “I don’t think that’ll ever see the light of day. It’s too bad on many levels, but I was really excited to do it.”
The pipeline of Gaiman adaptations is drying up, with the last few projects readying for release. From here, the question shifts to the fans and viewers in general: Will you watch? I don’t begrudge anyone their clear moral compass, but I also appreciate the new life art takes when it is shared amongst collaborators and audiences alike. It no longer belongs to any one author, or asshole. So like the studios, I’m going to decide on a case-by-case basis. Just as Amazon is seeking a return on their existing investment in Good Omens, so am I, for my time as a viewer. Kicking out Gaiman and doing a single long wrap-up episode seems like a fair resolution to me, and I’ll tune in. If they decide to air Anansi Boys, I won’t be mad at it. It would be a shame for the hard work of the artists to sit on a shelf, but I probably won’t watch because I don’t have a similar investment. We’re all making these calculations as consumers all the time, between our personal satisfaction and the message we want to send the industry about its choice of projects in the future, and there is no right answer. I just hope all our personal choices net out to the same result: Gaiman continuing his slide into obscurity.
